Reverend Ted Anderson

I had found a card that reminded me of Ted Anderson. It was a water color of Orange St with the church in the background. I marched it over to him after I wrote some mushy words inside. I walked quietly into the great big room. I almost didn't see him sitting quietly in a pew reading. He saw me as soon as I spotted him. My heart smiled as he glanced up to see who was invading his quiet time. He asked me to sit with him and I walked up the long aisle and handed him the card.

I found something that reminded me of you - but you can't read it until after I leave. He chuckled and said " Why don't you take a card from the back?" We walked to a table full of pamphlets and such. He handed me a card with a view of the church from Stone Alley -my secret walkway! There was a little boy with jeans, red shirt and red baseball cap walking up the alley with oars thrown over his shoulder from fishing.

"Do you know who this is?" he asked. "You?" I inquired? "No, but do you know that when I was a young boy I used to walk up stone alley after fishing and I always wore a red shirt -blue cap and I used to carry the oars over my shoulder just like that. "Maybe it is you," I said. Sheepishly smiling.

He asked about my job. I told him, "It has it's ups and downs, but you grin and bear it." He nodded his head in agreement and said "I know what you mean." "You know, a dear friend of mine passed away this week. Good, good woman."

"The one you spoke about this morning? I interrupted..."
"Yes!" he said. "She was 94 and she has been married to her husband for 73. Now the family is thinking of putting her husband into a retirement home - an expensive one- to justify doing it." His eyes looked so sad. I didn't say anything - just nodded my head and looked him in the eyes. "Was that her husband in the front row this morning?" I asked. Ted nodded his head to say yes. "Wonderful man - that man is." We talked in general and I asked if he wanted something to eat from town because he hadn't had lunch yet and was waiting for an appointment to show up. "Do you know? I said...

His eyes got wide and he looked at me as if I were about to tell him something great "... at Something Natural, they have these huge wicked awesome chocolate chip cookies this big!" as I held out my hands to exaggerate the size. He laughed and said "Yes!" Matt Fee who owns the place. I know him. I married him. "You did?" I said in wonderment. "Oh Yes!" he said. "I marry everyone!" "Aha ha ha ha, he laughed and his eyes twinkled.

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also known as Messy Jess. 4 beautiful children...a forgiving husband and of course the family dog. Just kidding. NO DOG! Bad DOG! SIT! We have no family pets the kids messes are big enough and the sad fact they are allergic to EVERY THING. We are the perfect UNperfect family and we get through life by kneeling when we cannot stand and pictures....LOTS and LOTS of pictures! Life is too short and too fragile. We take our kids on dates and we LOVE Jesus and we take Life one day at a time.